Cultural Responsiveness in Working with the Military: A Community-Based Participatory Approach to Program Development

The high operational tempo and the length of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have required more frequent and less predictable deployment rotations, higher exposure to combat among those deployed, and greater reliance on National Guard/Reserves than in any previous US conflicts. While military families and their service branches have shown remarkable resilience throughout the intense demands of these conflicts, very young children (ages five and younger) in military families are particularly vulnerable as a result of parental deployment. This paper will: 1) present emerging findings from a four year study funded by the Department of Defense to develop an intervention targeting the reintegration phase of the deployment cycle for very young children and 2) describe the ongoing participatory process of building a consumer and evidence informed family-based program that is feasible, acceptable, and culturally responsive to the needs of National Guard/Reserve military components. Primary data sources include in-depth interviews with OEF/OIF service members who are parents of young children (5 years and younger) around parenting, deployment experiences, and access and utilization barriers. Findings illustrated how service member parents coped with challenges of the deployment cycle. This collaborative approach to program development maximizes consumer input regarding deployment-related experiences, interaction with existing systems of care, and family perceptions of need related to reintegration and parenting of very young children. Implications of building a consumer and evidence-informed program culturally responsive to military needs will be discussed.